Ethernet-based high-speed communication for Zonal Architectures and Telematics systems

The past decades have seen the slow demise of the role of mechanical engineers in the automotive industry as software programmers displace them. Vehicles have gone from being mechanical marvels to software-defined transportation solutions. And, if you believe that the quantity of software and the electronics that implement that code's functionality has peaked, you're going to be disappointed. The reality is that the automotive industry is still largely at the beginning of its journey to reshape how the electrical and electronic (E/E) architecture of vehicles will be implemented.

Electronic control units (ECU) handling individual functions within the vehicle have long been the approach to electrifying previously mechanical functions, such as window lifters, and adding new functionality, such as rain sensors. As a result, even a basic vehicle model contains around 70 ECUs, with premium models featuring well over 100. However, as vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEM) look to differentiate their products and regulators place pressure on OEMs to add advanced safety features (ADAS), it is clear the old one-feature-per-box approach is no longer tenable.